By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Racist abuse from European fans at the soccer pitch have made international headlines recently and now one Bahamian athlete has experienced similar treatment on the volleyball court in Greece.

Byron Ferguson, a member of the Iraklis Volleyball Club, was the subject of racial abuse and attacks by fans of PAOK Volley during a match between the two teams in Thessaloniki, Greece yesterday. The club and Greek Volleyball League are currently investigating the incident.

In the third and deciding game in the first round of the A1 playoff series, tension boiled over between the two teams, both located in Thessaloniki.

Ferguson was called a monkey, and on his every touch of the ball, the crowd descended into racist "Ooo, ooo, ooo" grunts meant to equate black people to primates.

"It started off with a call that went against me. A ball I hit was in, but even after the review, the officials didn't give me the call. I had a back injury earlier in the year and when I went to the bench, the trainers told me to keep my jacket on to keep my back warm and while I was putting the jacket on, a fan walked over to our bench, spit in my face and said 'F--- you, I'll f--- your mother you monkey'.

"Obviously I reacted, I went after him and a bunch of other fans started calling me a monkey so I was pretty much was attacked," Ferguson said,

"When I came back down everyone was telling me I needed to shut up and not say anything, even my coach told me to shut up and was saying I was losing focus. I told them I would not shut up, and I would not let the game go on.

"The officials were threatening to throw me out of the game. The only person who supported me through that was our trainer, he hugged me and I just broke down crying. I didn't know what to do. This is a crowd, a full arena of several thousand people and every time I made a point or touched the ball they made monkey noises."

The 29-year-old veteran protested his objection to the incident and received a yellow card from the referee, The referees called for the objection to be filed after the end of the match.

"The police got involved and eventually escorted me out. The worst part is I didn't do anything," he said, "I've been a pro for years, never bothered a fan, never cared if they said what they want, but I've never been spit in the face and called a monkey."

PAOK went on to win the match 3-0.

The incident marred a season where Ferguson has secured his berth in the Greece All-Star Classic. He was selected to participate on the World All-Star team that played against the All-Star team made up of native players from Greece.

The players were selected as starters by the coaches and the executives before the public cast their votes for their favourite players.

Iraklis concluded the regular season with three consecutive wins before their playoff matchup against PAOK.

Last week, UEFA urged referees to halt games that were interrupted by similar incidents, however, Juventus striker Moise Kean was subjected to racist abuse by fans in Italy's Serie A in a match against Cagliari.